Eugene Bruce Cooper

In Memoriam - Gene Cooper

Dr. Eugene Bruce Cooper, 81, of Weston, FL, passed away on Saturday, November 21, [ed. 2015]. Dr. Cooper is survived by his beloved wife of 50 years, Crystal, his devoted sons Philip (Karen) and Ivan (Amy), and his adoring grandchildren Dylan, Grant, Jake, and Maddie. Born in Utica, NY, Dr. Cooper was a world-renowned expert on stuttering, earning his undergraduate degree at SUNY Geneseo and receiving his doctorate from Penn State University. Among numerous professional achievements and honors, Dr. Cooper developed the first commercially available assessment and treatment program for individuals who stutter, chaired the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Alabama for 30 years, and was awarded the Honors of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association for his revolutionary contributions to the field of stuttering treatment. Services will be held on November 24 at 2:30 at Temple Dor Dorim, 2360 Glades Circle in Weston, and interment will be at Menorah Gardens & Funeral Chapels in Southwest Ranches, FL. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to JAFCO (Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options, www.jafco.org), or the Cleveland Clinic (giving.clevelandclinic.org). - from South Florida Sun-Sentinal (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sunsentinel/obituary.aspx?pid=176614208#sthash.3ay2WK94.dpuf)

Eugene B. Cooper 2001 recipient of the Malcolm Fraser Award for Excellence in Stuttering - Dr. Gene B. Cooper was honored in 2001 for decades of profound influence in the field of fluency disorders and his work within ASHA.

Eugene B. Cooper served the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa from 1966-1996. The Cooper Lecture Series in Communication Disorders was established in honor or Dr. Cooper and his wife Crystal S. Cooper.

In 2003, he wrote another article for the ISAD onion conference Chronic Stuttering: Todd's Story a revision of an article originally presented at an ASHA convention in 1986 and subsequently published in the 1987 Journal of Fluency Disorders (12,381-388) article entitled "The Chronic Perseverative Stuttering (CPS): Incurable Stuttering." Cooper responded to questions/comments to the article, including one by Robert Quesal, copied below with his permission:

Hi Gene: Before I start, let me reassure you that, at least to some extent, I am playing devil's advocate here. However, as you know, we currently are
enjoined in a battle with those who say that fluency *is* what's important, and they have the data to prove it. They say that those of us who say there's more to it than fluency have "assertions" and nothing more.

So, the question is: if someone comes to you and says that Chronic
Perseverative Stuttering Syndrome is nothing but a fabrication because
there is no published research data to support it, how would you
respond?

I hope you take this question in the spirit in which it is intended.

Best Wishes,
Bob Q.

Gene's answer -
http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/cahn_mnsu_edu/6copper/_disc8/0000004f.html?next
Dear Robert: Yes, Robert, there is a Chronic Perseverative Stuttering (CPS)syndrome. It resides in the mind, body,and soul of all those individuals who,, no matter how much energy,time, and effort they expend in their pursuit of fluency, find that fluency, as most individuals experience it,
continunes to elude them.

Indeed, Robert, it is a fabrication (as are the Developmental and the
Remediable Stuttering syndromes) as surely as is love, longing, purity,
honor, duty, and all those other constructs that, because of their
complexity, defy frequency counts as measures of their potency. It is,
of course, a hypothetical construct. Created to assist those concerned
with stuttering in conceptualizing the complexity of the problem with
which they are confronted,the CPS syndrome will continue to evade
measurement as the bean counters are wont to do. Yes, the ABCs
(affective, behavioral, and cognitive components)of stuttering are
indeed difficult to measure but, particularly in recent years, in no
small part due to the focus of ASHA's Fluency Division's on such
matters, we have been making significant strides in doing so. I say
"pooh" on all those who demean such efforts.

Data supporting CPS's existence abounds. The too-numerous-to-mention
reports of relapse (we prefer the term "re-emergence") following
repeated attempts at therapeutic intervention abundantly attest to the
syndrome's existence. The voluminous data-based research indicates the
significance of not only the behavioral aspects of the disorder (yes,
including even disfluency counts of dubious reliability) to defining
stuttering, but of the affective and the cognitive components as well.
Unfortunately, a small number (but still far too many) of our colleagues
have lost sight of the forest because of the frequency-count tree (ah,
the "frequency fallacy" again). Would that all of those nonbelievers be
forced to attend and National Stuttering Association's annual convention. I suspect their numbers would shrink significantly. Data they need? Before them in the convention rooms are data far more powerful than all the frequency counts ever completed supporting the notion that the CPS syndrome is very much alive and well. The CPS provides comfort, alleviates guilt, and with the recognition that CPS can be conquered (if not "cured"), it enables the client and clinician to set realistic and attainable treatment goals.

And as you well know, for nearly 40 years, we (Crystal and myself) have set the "feeling of fluency control," as being the end goal of out treatment programs rather arbitrarily determined frequency-of-stuttering counts whose validity and reliability continue to plague us all.

Yes, Robert, there is a CPS. We may not be able to count it, weigh it,
hear it, or see it, but it exists as surely as goodness, mercy, and all
the other constructs that enable us to communicate with others.

With love,
Gene

TRIBUTES

Judy Kuster: Gene Cooper honored me in many ways (writing letters of recommendation, inviting me to his open house celebration at ASHA in 1999, writing papers for the ISAD online conferences, etc.), and he and his wife Crystal became good friends after they retired. For many years, my husband Tom and I enjoyed and annual dinner and a visit with Gene and Crystal in Weston, Florida, where they lived and we vacationed. Gene's health grew more problematic over the years, but his spirit and sense of humor remained remarkable.

Todd Bourg: Thoughts and prayers to Crystal and family. God bless all of you. Gene and I go back 35 years to the University of Alabama. He was my dear friend and mentor and I will truly miss him. Gene helped me to understand that my 'stuttering' was all about the "feeling of control" and not the 'fluency'. We shared many years of discussing this concept and now am a firm believer that in my case, he was correct. Thank you for the education, my friend. I love you. Todd Bourg

Frederick P. Murray, Ph.D, ASHA Fellow: Gene was an extraordinary man who had the rare quality of appreciating what a severe stutterer goes through. The Windows of our minds have been rendered clearer by his endeavors.

Florence Myers, PhD: I am so saddened to hear of the passing of Gene. Wow....it would seem that giants such as he would never succumb to passing. Well, they don't, really, as their remarkable contributions continue to thrive. I feel in many ways he and Crystal were ahead of their time in thinking and clinical approaches to stuttering--yet will remain classical and timeless.

David Daly, PhD,: Whatever I accomplished was directly attributed to his faith in me. Gene helped me believe in myself when my stuttering held me down. He was a great therapist and friend.

Walter Manning, PhD: I believe that one of the more fortunate events in our lives is when our paths intersect with good people at just the right time. That is what happened when I met Eugene Cooper. A series of decisions and events brought Gene and me together when, at age 22, I finally acknowledged and faced the many restrictions I was placing on myself because of my stuttering. Because of Gene and the clinicians in the program at Penn State University, I participated in a successful therapeutic experience, continued with my education and entered the field. During that time Gene evolved from being my clinician and became my mentor, my colleague, and my friend.

Although Gene was not a person who stuttered he fully understood the experience of stuttering as much or more than anyone I have known. Many of the things he considered to be crucial such as the therapeutic alliance and the idea of loss of control as a distinguishing aspect of stuttering later became recognized as essential aspects of the therapeutic experience. The issues he researched and the topics he addressed in his writing and presentations reflected his understanding, empathy, and passion for helping children and adults who stuttered.

I often recall a moment during one of our therapy sessions when, for a moment, we both were silent. After the short pause Gene commented "I knew we were friends when we could share the silence." Over the years our lives would intersect at committee meetings, conventions, weddings, and dinners. Every moment that I remember with Gene and his wife Crystal was enjoyable and always brings a smile. Gene was one of two people in my life whose wives and/or children told me that they regarded me as a son. I will always be thankful that I was able to know and spend many good times with him.

Fred Minifie: Most of my interactions with Gene were in relation to the Council of Graduate Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (now the Council of Academic Programs in Communications Sciences and Disorders) during the 1980s. Gene was one of the early and vigorous participants the Council, believing in the importance of having an independent venue for the exchange of information crucial to Graduate Education in our field. For the first 10 years of that organization we met at the Henry VIII motel near the airport in St. Louis. The relative isolation of that venue provided lots of time to to engage in informal discussions on issues of importance to Graduate Program Directors. Gene thoroughly enjoyed the good humor and repartee among the Educational Program Directors who attended those meetings. If memory serves, Gene served as Chair of the Department at the University of Alabama for something like 25 years before he moved to Nova University in Florida. While his professional interest and expertise was in the treatment of stuttering, most of our interactions dealt with the issue of having a venue for graduate education directors to meet independent of ASHA in order to improve graduate education in our field without being dependent upon ASHA's influence. We shall miss his presence in the profession.